Observations From Week 1 of Not Eating Nearly Enough Food

Well…it’s been just about a week since I embarked on my Portion Control challenge and it’s certainly been interesting. Here are a few observations from week 1 of (practically) fasting:

• I’m hungry—basically all the time. Not like, ravenously hungry, but even after I eat, there’s this slight hunger pang that lingers. Sayonara satiety. 
• I’ve found that eating the suggested serving size forces you to abide by the Japanese practice, “hara hachi bu” of only eating until you’re 80% full. Sometimes this is great as I’ll find myself feeling “full” (there’s definitely a new definition of “full” this month) a few minutes after I’ve stopped eating—you know—when I’d normally still be stuffing my face. However, sometimes I’m starving and really just want to feel 100%, even 110%, full. Maybe you can’t always get what you want?
• I’ve noticed myself eating a lot slower—because hey—when there’s only half a cup of pasta on your plate, you’d better make it last. This has been great though since I’ve never been proud of the fact that I normally eat at lightning speed.
• I’ve also been a lot more mindful about my eating, hardly ever eating in front of the computer or TV (I’ve realized just how mindless this eating really is), and really focusing on my food so I can savor, instead of scarf, it.
• I’m obviously eating a lot less, but I think I might be starting to acclimate to it. I read this quote in the Huffington Post article that I posted above that I’m hoping is true:
  

  “It takes sometimes 15-20 meals to reset the muscle memory of the stomach to get used to less food and people need to trust that will happen. Most are used to eating until full, which is past satiation and which keeps weight on.”

And now it’s time to go make a reasonably portioned dinner. Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram, I’m posting a lof of my meals on there (if anything, you’ll get a good laugh at what we all “should” be eating).

Happy Friday!

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